HC Deb 10 April 1984 vol 58 cc187-8
9. Mr. Latham

asked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he will make a statement on the progress of the operational deployment of cruise missiles.

Mr. Stanley

NATO deployments of cruise and Pershing II missiles are due to be completed over a five-year period. The programme for the deployment of 96 ground-launched cruise missiles at Greenham common will be completed well within that period, but I am not able to discuss specific details of further deliveries.

Mr. Latham

Is it not highly regrettable that the Soviets are still not prepared to return to the negotiating table to prevent the further deployment, either of these dreadful weapons or of SS20s? Will my hon. Friend confirm that, if the Soviets showed any good will, an agreement could be reached?

Mr. Stanley

I can certainly give my hon. Friend that assurance. As I said in answer to a previous question, the zero option remains on the table, as does President Reagan's offer of an agreement on equal numbers at a level below the present deployments. As for the SS20s, it is a matter of great regret that not only have the Soviets moved out of the INF negotiations, but that the deployment of SS20s, both those facing westwards and those facing eastwards, continues.

Mr. Flannery

Is it not a fact that the deployment of these dreadful missiles is meeting such resistance from the British people that they have to be moved at night and only a few missiles have arrived here, although about 170 are due to come?

Is it not also a fact that, although there are 105 American bases in this country, the British people virtually never see an American in uniform outside those bases because the Americans are so unpopular in this country? Will the Minister explain why we never see the missiles or an American in uniform?

Mr. Stanley

The British people well understand the importance of maintaining deterrence at all levels and they voted accordingly in the general election. As for the hon. Gentleman's comments about American service men, I am confident that the overwhelming majority of the British people recognise and welcome the work that they do in this country.

Mr. Marlow

Is there any truth in the report in yesterday's Daily Express that those who are seeking to obstruct the deployment of cruise missiles in the United Kingdom are getting free legal support from the so-called National Council for Civil Liberties? If so——

Mr. Speaker

Order. That has nothing to do with the original question.

Mr. Denzil Davies

Why do the Government not admit that the deployment of cruise missiles has been a disaster? Militarily it has led to the deployment of other missiles— not SS20s—in eastern Europe;, diplomatically, it has led to the breakdown of all talks; politically, it has created tensions in western Europe that will have serious repercussions for NATO. Why do the Government not recognise reality and at least stop any further deployment?

Mr. Stanley

The right hon. Gentleman fails to recognise that if the cruise deployment had not gone ahead— and deployment was a NATO decision, the foundations of which were laid during the Labour Government's administration—the message conveyed to the Soviet Union would have been that it could increase its ability to subject the whole of western Europe and the free world to nuclear blackmail through the massive build-up of SS20s and strategic nuclear missiles in which the Soviets are engaging.